1 week later

Lelouch POV

So It started.

"Lelouch".

It wasn't ideal, but he can work with this.

"Lelouch".

Kallen and his squad were getting better day by day, soon they would be ready t...

"LELOUCH!" Milly shouted while grabbing him by the shoulder "Are you deaf?" Then she made a smirk "Or maybe have you finally fallen in love with someone, and can't stop thinking about her?".

Lelouch simply ignored her provocation.

This was rarely enough to stop the blonde "Who is the lucky one? The innocent Shirley, or maybe Kallen, the poor ill girl?".

Before Lelouch could say anything Kallen used her notebook to hit Milly on the head "Do you know we are here right?".

Shirley was embarrassed enough to stay silent.

Milly looked at Kallen "I didn't know you had that fire in you, what else did you hide Ms Statfeld?".

Kallen panicked for a second, so Lelouch intervened "Shouldn't we finish filling this paperwork? We are already late".

Milly smile faded "Hey, you are the one who got distracted".

Lelouch "And you are the one that should have done all of this one week ago".

Milly didn't yet admit defeat "You never play my game, Lelouch, just relax".

Rivalz interrupted what could have gone on for a lot, changing the subject "Talking of games, Lelouch, you didn't bring me to any of your games for a while now, it was fun to see those buffoons lose their money".

For a moment he froze in terror, images of Tamaki passing in front of his eyes, but He quickly regained his composure. "Let's just finish this work". They all noticed the shift of mood but didn't comment on it.

17:56

Tokyo, JLF Base

Kallen POV

Another day of training, but now they were almost ready, Lelouch planned their first operation, so today she would choose the last pilot, until now it was a pretty easy task, the first two choices were Hiroshi and Daiki, two men in their thirty, they were the only with experience, They fought together in the war and they used a real Knightmare a few times, but they disappeared from the radar after the Japanese defeat, probably the only reason the JLF sent them here is to test their loyalty, The next one was Kaito, the youngest of the group, he was clearly the one with more potential, nothing phenomenal, but whit time he will become better than most Britannia pilot, the last spot was the tricky one, she had two decent option, Saturo a man in his fifty, he was addicted to alcohol and out of shape, still he had the third best aim (this worried her about the other more then she will admit), he was also fairly competent in most field, and at least in the simulation, he was the best at following order, on the other side, Rina a woman in his forty, She was fast and phenomenal in reading what was happening in the battlefield, but totally incautious, hesitant in following order she didn't agree to, and Kallen needed to fight with people she can trust, but... not including her would be a waste of potential, so she was chosen, hopefully in the future they will have more Knightmare, and better pilot, but for now they will have to work with this.

Lelouch "Today we will join the main army in an assault at the industrial area in Nagano, our mission is to delay any reinforcement from Tokyo, soon you all will receive a map of the area, reach your position and stay hidden, if everyone follows my order tonight Britannia will face defeat".

23:07

Jeremiah POV

He and Kewel were still in service when they were alerted about an attack, they reached their Knightmares and contacted Villetta, while they and six other members of the purist faction were going directly into the battle she had to gather whoever was not in service, this will be a big battle, and whit the recent defeat of Bartley this could be a chance to fill the void of power he left. But he was not expecting to be intercepted this soon, the moment they left Tokyo at every angle there was one Eleven equipped with anti-Knightmare weapon, they could not destroy a Sutherland, but the damage to some of the units was getting dangerous, the rational part of him was screaming to retreat, but their force at the fabrics were being overrun, and the regular army will not arrive sooner than one hour, and Villetta will arrive soon in their support, they have to continue at all cost.

But at the seventh attack, he ordered to take a larger formation and take them out, this was a fatal error; until now he ignored them, obviously they fired back, but Jeremiah doubted they would have been able to catch them, and even if they could manage to do it this would have required to much time, but now they were too close to the actual battleground, they would destroy those little ants and join their allies in the main battle, so Jeremiah separated them in 3 different groups, it all started going to hell when George reported enemy Knightmare before being destroyed.

Soon after the two men under his command followed the same fate. Jeremiah "Kewell, return immediately, enemy Knightmares are heading toward us".

Kewell managed to reunite with them slightly before the enemy force could engage in combat, but at this moment Jeremiah fully understood his error, they were encircled in an area fully controlled by the enemy, from predators they became the prey, he was not expecting this from the JLF, they always preferred an open field battle, but this was not the case.

Normally in such a situation he would keep going forward and try to break the encirclement, but he imagined that whoever his enemy was, he probably prepared a plan for a similar move. Jeremiah shouted to his troops hoping to maintain a high morale "Follow me, we will destroy these fools who think they can compete with the Purist faction, let's show them why we are the elite of Area 11".

Lelouch POV

Until now all was going according to plan, even so, Jeremiah Gottwald was his enemy, the last apprentice of his mother, he hoped to destroy them piece by piece, but they immediately reunited, and now they were trying to fight back, going toward Kallen and his squad.

Lelouch "Q1, lure them in but do everything to not engage close combat, P1 and P4, reach the building in front of you, east side, and fire at my order, B1 and B2, reach position N15".

In 30 seconds, Jeremiah's force reached the position.

Lelouch "Fire now!".

Two shots of RPG made part of the wall explode and fall over the Knightmare. Lelouch "B1, B2, move 10 meters to the left and fire".

While stunned and with their vision compromised the purist was slow to react to the attack, one pilot had to eject the Knightmare next to hit and lost one of his arms.

Lelouch "Now retreat to position N19".

At the same time a message arrived, the mission was a success, and Katase force was now retreating.

But he still hadn't finished, Kallen tried to make them follow her again, but this time the Purists ignored her and took another road, They were trying to reach the square of the city, it was a good place to defend themselves waiting for reinforcement, here they would not have any chance, to take them by surprise. And the reinforcement with Villetta, were probably warned about his ambush, and already managed to go over the first three positions, most of the troops managed to escape, they were prepared to do this after all, but he hoped to crush the enemy, and soon he will lose his chance.

Lelouch "P2, P1 go at the position N13 and...".

Jeremiah predicted the move and changed their path.

Lelouch "P8, P6, R1 go at the position N19 and...".

He managed to do it again, and he was getting closer.

Lelouch "B1, B2 wait for them inside the building in N25, go there as fast as possible, it is our last chance to take them".

They were too slow, it was over, but Rina was continuing to chase them. Lelouch "R1 retreat" She didn't listen "R1 RETREAT IMMEDIATELY! THIS IS AN ORDER" She ignored the order.

She talked in an open frequency "JEREMIAH GOTTWALD, YOU MONSTER, YOU KILLED MY SON, I WILL HAVE MY REVENGE".

Lelouch "Q1, B1, B2, STOP HER, SHOT AT THE LEG IF NEEDED".

Kallen POV

FUCK, FUCK, FUCK, FUCK, FUCK, FUCK.

Kallen was going as fast as she could, just a few moments ago the battle was over, and now they were all in serious danger, soon Britannia's reinforcement would arrive, they had to recover Rina and escape as fast as possible. Kallen reached the main road, she could see Rina, her Knightmare was badly damaged, her sword on the ground, Kallen was getting closer as fast as possible, but she was too slow, before she could do anything, Jeremiah spear destroyed the cabin of the Knightmare killing Rina.

Kallen shouted and charged toward the enemy Knightmare "JEREMIAH!".

They made contact in melee combat, Jeremiah tried to maintain the distance using his spear, but Kallen managed to deviate it, and fired her Slash Harken, one missed but the other damaged Jeremiah's right leg, she tried to maintain the momentum by continuing her attack, but with little success, until she exaggerated and Jeremiah managed to counterattack hitting the right arm of her Knightmare and putting some distance between them, Kallen was about to engage him again when she heard Lelouch voice "JOIN B1 AND B2, IT'S TIME TO RETREAT" she didn't move until another message arrived at the radio "NOW, HE IS OUT OF YOUR LEAGUE", she wanted to stay, to fight, but she understood how foolish it was and then retreated, Jeremiah didn't chase them, and he reunited with his man, from here they returned to their base as planned without any other problem.

The mission was almost a total success, they managed to buy enough time, and only 4 of the 50 men involved in the operation died, a very low percentage, and Britannia lost much more today, but what was tormenting her was that She made a mistake, She should have been more careful, choosing Rina was stupid, for Kallen her results as a pilot was enough, she hasn't made any research on her background, and even if Rina was the one to chose to charge the enemy, Kallen was the one to put her in it, she should have been better, she has to be better.